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Seek-Locate-Destroy (106)

This is an excellent episode with an intelligent and clever script. There's so much to comment on, but I'll keep it short because I'm going out soon--to the seaside for lunch on a surprisingly nice day. :-)

VilaHe's so funny and expressive and cute in this ep and gets some great lines. He looks so resigned when he's about to be teleported, I love the look on his face when he melts the end of his probe (oops), his spiel to the guards, how he props them up after he and Blake knock them out, his "Don't leave me!" and his nervous jump and clutch at his heart when Blake calls to him. I think this is the ep in which I decided I loved him.How did he intercept the computer refusal and change it to acceptance though? Surely that would require a hack rather than just blocking it.

AvonMy favourite line of his is this ep isn't the funniest, but so true. "At least I'll know what the Federation is planning." That even gets an appreciative grin from Gan.

OCsThe wonderful Bercol and Rontane and their twisty politics of course, but Prell is also a great character who feels real with an off-screen life one can believe in.

ServalanSo beautiful and poised. I believe her lines were written for a male and weren't altered, so I amused myself trying to hear them with a different delivery from a different Supreme Commander: Rai really being an old friend instead of what Servalan's body language makes him here. :-)

TravisAppears to be considerably brighter than Servalan, and almost as good at the power gaming. He's the one that realises how to use the knowledge that the rebels can now read their signals to trap Blake when Servalan merely wants to change the codes. His delivery of "Depend on it" and his last line are wonderfully flat and all the more convincing when they could have been laughably melodramatic.

BlakeDespite his willingness to lead his crew blindly into battle, he's still far too high-minded for his (and their) own good., "Killing you'll change nothing. You don't matter enough to kill, Travis." Wrong both times. OK, I know they didn't want their hero to shoot someone down in cold blood, but in a couple of seasons... [ahem, spoiler, 'Star One'].

The crew's inability to count to fiveOK, playing the game, there could be an explanation. In Cygnus Alpha, Vargas arrives before Blake and the others although they were teleported at the same time, and in another teleport bay (because he steps out of it and towards the one Blake et al have just materialised in). I can see that it would be safer / easier to handle if people in different locations were sent to different bays, so Jenna and the others could have assumed Cally was in the other one. Bit lax not to turn around and check though.

Borked backupsActually it was Greg who recognised all the multiple-disc packs in the room Cally has the Federation prisoners under guard. What was that room, their backup and paper storage (in all the plastic crates) facility? I bet none of the discs were readable after that explosion.

Long-suffering tech support: "Didn't you take a backup?"Programmer (who didn't but has a ready excuse now): "Course we did, but it was Blaked."

WritingA well-crafted ep (apart from poor missing Cally) which not only introduces two new regulars very succinctly but also has three interesting and memorable guest characters. The story of Travis and Blake's previous encounter was cleverly done, cutting between Travis telling Servalan and Blake telling the crew.